Blogito ergo sum! Actually, as N.T. Wright averred, "'Amor, ergo sum:' I am loved, therefore I am." Among other things, I am a Roman Catholic deacon. This is a public cyberspace in which I seek to foster Christian discipleship in the late modern milieu in the diakonia of koinonia and in the recognition that "the Eucharist is the only place of resistance to annihilation of the human subject."

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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

On Job, St. Thérèse, and the Psalms

I am once again reading through the Book Job, an endeavor I began last weekend. Yesterday, after writing of St. Thérèse's torment during the terrible terminal phase of the tuberculosis that killed her, I read the sixth and seventh chapters of the Book of Job, which together constitute Job's first reply to the first (of many) interventions of one of his three friends (four if you count Elihu, the only truly wise on among the group). The first of Job's friends to weigh in on his sufferings and afflictions is Eliphaz the Temanite, who, predictably, wonders what Job might've done to incur God's terrible wrath.

In light of Thérèse's temptation to commit suicide, I was struck by a passage, verses 13-16 of chapter 7. Speaking to God, Job complains:

So that I should prefer strangulation
and death rather than my existence.

I waste away: I will not live forever;
let me alone, for my days are but a breath.

What are human beings, that you make much of them,
or pay them any heed?

In turn, the last sentence of this passage puts me in mind of Psalm 8:5: "What is man that you are mindful of him, and a son of man that you care for him?" And, even more to the point, to Psalm 144:3-4:

LORD, what is man that you take notice of him;
the son of man, that you think of him?

Man is but a breath,
his days are like a passing shadow

It's important to point out that, from both a human and Christian perspective, the story of Job is incomplete and very unsatisfying. The answer to Job's question, the same question posed by Psalmist, "What are human beings to you, O great, infinite, eternal, all-powerful God?" is answered by Jesus Christ. Christ shows that, inexplicably and surprisingly, we are everything to God. This is also what St. Thérèse shows us so clearly.

After being healed of her hyper-sensitivity about what people thought about her, how things impacted her emotionally, the Lord let the Little Flower know that He loved her just as she was. Once she grasped this, she came to see that she shouldn't despise herself because of her weaknesses and faults. She came to see her weaknesses as that which made her dependent on the Lord. It is God's unwavering, affirming love and our recognition that we depend on Him completely that enables us to trust, borrowing St. Paul's words, written to the Philippians, "that the one who began a good work in [us] will continue to complete it" until He comes to bring us home to the house of the Father.

Being reminded of God's unfailing for us, is it not fitting that today is the liturgical Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels? And so we pray,

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About Me

I am husband and Dad to six lovely children. I am also a Roman Catholic deacon of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I married in 1993, became a Dad for the first time in 1994 and most recently in 2011 (quite a spread). I was was ordained in 2004. After serving as a deacon for 11 years at The Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City (8 years before I was ordained for a total of 19 years), I am now assigned to St Olaf's Parish in Bountiful, Utah. I am a graduate of the University of Utah and the Institute in Pastoral Ministry at St. Mary's University of Minnesota. I am currently a candidate for a Doctorate in Ministry (D.Min) at Mount Angel Seminary, Oregon.

Madeleine Delbrêl

"We fashion the immortal being we are through our choices. Through our choices we bring the man in us to the fullness of life or to the worst of human suffering. At the hour of his death each human being has become either a person who will live with God forever, or who will be without God forever" Madeleine Delbrêl

St. Paul

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom. 12:1-2)

Two men I greatly admire

BXVI w/ Abp Rowan

C.S. Lewis

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one'” Lewis